24 GARDEN AND AVIAEY BIRDS. 



The White-eared Bulbul shown on Plate V (Fig. 3) 

 will give a good general idea of their appearance, and 

 they are all much of the same style, and easy to recognize. 

 Usually they have a patch of bright colour under the tail. 

 They are sociable birds, with a graceful, but not rapid 

 flight ; they seldom come on the ground, where they look 

 awkward hopping about on their short legs; but on trees 

 and bushes they are lively and active, and quite the most 

 ornamental small birds in India, although their colours are 

 usually sober. They feed mostly on fruit, berries, buds, 

 etc., and are not to be encouraged in a fruit and vegetable 

 garden ; but they take insects also, and feed the young 

 on these. They do not hold their food in their feet like 

 Babblers. Their nests are open and made of twigs and 

 fibres and their eggs are usually pink with red spots. One 

 or other species is found all over India, and Africa has 

 many species of its own as well. In captivity they are 

 easy to keep on any soft food and fruit, but unless hand- 

 reared are usually wild and uninteresting, and not at all 

 desirable. 



THE COMMON RED-VENTED BULBUL (Molpastes ben- 

 galensis), is one of the most familiar birds in Calcutta. 

 This is a largish bird as Bulbuls go, being about nine 

 inches long, and very picturesque in appearance, with its 

 full black crest and black tail tipped with white and set 

 off by a white patch over the root and a crimson one below ; 

 the general body colour is drab with light edges, running 

 into jet black on the head and neck. The young birds 

 are more rusty in colour, and have the patch under the 

 tail cinnamon instead of red. When taken from the nest 



